As he's done the past couple of election cycles, the former President's helping fellow Democrats. But this time around, his campaigning comes with the prospect of his wife making a second bid for the White House in 2016.

(CNN) - They're known for appealing to different factions of the GOP, but Kentucky's two U.S. senators - Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul - teamed up Monday for three joint appearances to roll out a hemp pilot program in their home state.

And with McConnell facing a GOP primary challenge from a candidate backed by the tea party this year, he was full of praise for Paul, who was elected to the Senate in 2010 with support from that wing of the party.FULL POST

(CNN) - Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is not making many friends in his own party after his latest attempt to block the Senate from raising the debt ceiling.

The Senate voted 67-31 Wednesday to break Cruz's filibuster as a dozen Republicans crossed party lines to vote with the Democrats against Cruz.

"[Cruz] forced their votes but you have several senators who are in purple states where shutting down the government, where leading us to the brink of economic ruin is not playing well for them," NPR correspondent Corey Dade said on CNN's State of the Union. "They're this close, they think, to retaking the Senate. They don't want to toy with that."

Washington (CNN) – Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, on Friday defended his decision back home in Kentucky to join Democrats in a vote to clear a filibuster hurdle that allowed a vote to raise the debt ceiling.

"My job is to protect the country when I can and to step up and lead on those occasions when it's required. That's what I did," he said at a campaign appearance in Louisville.

McConnell was one of 12 Republican senators to join Democrats on Tuesday in voting to end debate on the debt-ceiling bill that will extend the federal debt limit for a year, a move his opponents have been quick to criticize him for.

President Obama signed the bill into law Saturday in California, the White House said in a statement.FULL POST

(CNN) – Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday he can't see an agreement on immigration reform happening this year, citing an "irresolvable conflict" between the U.S. Senate and House.

McConnell indicated the Democratic-controlled Senate's insistence on comprehensive legislation is at impossible odds with the House Republican majority's preferred piecemeal approach to immigration reform.

Washington (CNN) – Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s re-election team announced Friday that it added $2.2 million to its war chest, a sum that far outpaces the Kentucky Republican’s bipartisan challengers.

McConnell, who’s been fundraising for years with eyes on a sixth term in the Senate, has raised a total of $20 million for the race and ended 2013 with $10.9 million left in the bank.FULL POST